To Do :

Of course!!!  To-Do Lists!

That’ll sort me out…!

Not just one list (that would be silly) but several.

Number One To-Do List is the one where the things on it are ABSOLUTELY URGENT.  Like, write that report that was due yesterday, post the expense claims (cos we’re always broke without them), mop the red wine from last night off the carpet…

Number Two is the one with things that need to get done BEFORE SUNDAY.  Wash clothes (that are appropriate as “Good-Christian-Girl-On-A-Mission-Team-In-A-Sunny-Country” attire), iron clothes, pack clothes etc etc…

Number Three: for the near future, things that if left undone you may lose your job (which might not be so bad, as then you might actually finish a to-do list or two…).  For example, contact that student you were meant to chat to (ENTER sub-to-do list ‘3b’: all the things you said you’d do just to shut him up and let you enjoy your coffee in peace), reply to that nice minister who wants you to come and tell his church all about your work, or tell your boss what you’ve been up to for the past three months for which he hasn’t received a time sheet…

To-Do List Number Four: The things you will do in the abundance of time when there are no students around, like read books, reply to 6 week old ‘urgent’ emails, sit down…

To-Do List Number Five consists of all the things you’d like/need to do in your spare time such as pack up two years’ worth of guff to ship off to a different (as yet undisclosed) location (sub-list 5b: Find a house to ship guff off to), get your hair cut and eyebrows waxed, write a blog about Worship…

You get the idea…

Eventually you end up at To-Do List Number Seven Hundred and Forty Three which – regardless of whether there actually are 742 preceding lists or not (#743b Count To-Do Lists) – will, let’s face it, never reach the heady heights of the recycling bin.  It’ll never actually get done.  For example… be more organised, get fit, clear out the filing cabinet, defrost the freezer, finish the To-Do Lists…

Pink

Yesterday I learnt that joy is pink.  Now, we’re talking liturgical colours here.  I actually have no idea what that really means and I don’t want to google it just yet. 

I love that.  I want to write a song about that, or paint a picture of that or something! Joy is pink.  I want to roll it around on my tongue for a while, make it my pillow, paint it on the soles of my feet…

If joy is pink, I reckon hope might be blue, you know, like sky-on-a-sunny-spring-day blue.  Or sometimes soft, baby blue, like soft, baby pink… only blue.  But sometimes deep, deep navy – where its only really a tiny shade away from blackness. 

Despair is black.  Loneliness is white. 

Community, however, might be yellow.  Or maybe that’s love.  But then, they’re sewn together, aren’t they?  Maybe with a fine green thread.  I don’t think love is red, but maybe I just don’t see it yet.

But joy is definately pink.

The problem with sin.

The problem with sin is that it blinds us til all we can see is ourselves.  Even when we see that all we’re seeing is ourselves, we don’t care, because it is ourselves we’re worried about.

I say that all in ‘we’, but really I mean ‘me’.

I have no idea if anyone else feels the same.

But, perhaps others can identify when I say this: I am fed up with sin.  I am fed up with my selfishness, my pride, my critical nature and my self-pity.

The problem with being a Christian is that, because I’ve seen something of God, I (even when I hate to admit it) see more of my wrong-ness.  So, as much as I’d like to ignore it, I ultimately can’t.  Even more frustratingly, I can’t fix it.  I think I can (because, after all, its all about me…), or, I think I already have fixed it but then I realise at an even deeper level that my biggest concern is still me, myself and I.

This is why I need Jesus.

But the problem with sin is that it blinds us til all we can see is ourselves.

Not bad for a girl

Humour.  Its a funny thing, really isn’t it?  No pun intended.

How often do we make jokes out of issues that can actually be really sensitive issues?  Particularly in Northern Ireland perhaps?  Our humour is largely based on sarcasm and teasing.  So much so that when there’s a foreigner amongst us, we have to explain that we actually like, rather than despise, each other.

We make jokes about marriage, singleness, appearance, gender… and sometimes its seriously not funny.  Today, after leading worship I was told:

“You’re not bad… for a girl”.

Funny, huh?!

Talk about the wrong thing to say to the wrong person at the wrong time.